Retrospective Criticism. 255 



Our opinion is known to be decidedly in favour of metallic hot-houses, 

 on the general principle of their admitting more light, and we do not care 

 much what sort of metal is used. But it must be remembered that many 



E radical gardeners, Mr. Atkinson, who has had great experience in building 

 ot-houses, and what is called the Horticultural Society (that is, the one 

 or two persons who take the lead in the office and garden of that Society), 

 are of a different opinion. In seven years the hot-houses erected, and now 

 erecting, at Syon House, upwards of one thousand feet in length, will pro- 

 bably set the question at rest. In the mean time, we should be glad of the 

 opinion of gardeners who have had such houses under their charge, and 

 especially of Mr. M'Arthur of the Grange, who, we know, has erected and 

 managed several iron houses. Our correspondent, Mr. Fraser, will perhaps 

 collect the experience of gardeners in Ireland on the subject. 



Hardy Ferns. — Having turned the attention of some of your correspond- 

 ents to the treatment of the Orchidese, you might also direct it with success 

 to the best treatment of a beautiful, but neglected tribe of plants, the hardy 

 ferns. The healthiest that I have seen cultivated are growing in a shady 

 peat border, in the garden of R. Barclay, Esq., at Bury Hill, Surrey. — 

 A. X. Oct. 25. 1826. 



We have lately seen the fine collection at Bury Hill, and, through the 

 kindness of its most liberal proprietor, been able to add from it sixty species to 

 our collection. We should feel greatly obliged to Mr. Cameron, the gardener 

 at Bury Hill, if he would send us a list of the collection under his charge, 

 grouping them according to their methods of culture, and describing the 

 culture for each group. We would also request Mr. Shepherd, of the 

 Liverpool botanic garden, to do the same thing as to the collection there. 

 Information on so interesting a department of select culture, from these 

 quarters, will be gratifying to every curious gardener. — Cond. 



Art. XII. Retrospective Criticism. 



THE Idea of the Grass-Garden at Woburn Abbey, we are assured upon 

 unquestionable authority, was not taken from that of Mr. Gibbs's nursery, 

 Brompton, as we stated (p. 126.), not on the authority of Mr. Gibbs, but 

 on that of our contributor J. M. The Woburn Abbey grass-garden, is an 

 original design of Mr. Sinclair. 



Trees that will, and will not, grow on Peat Mosses. — Sir, — In taking notice 

 of my Natural and Agricultural History of Peat Moss in your Magazine, 

 you have mentioned among the trees that grow on peat mosses, the willow 

 generally, along with others. Give me leave to say that I think in this 

 you are mistaken : for, during an experience of upwards of thirty years in 

 cultivating and observing such soils, I have never seen any of the larger 

 willows growing on moss ground ; by which I mean on peaty soils, as long 

 as they retain their antiseptic or tanning juices. 



Indeed I have lately planted, unsuccessfully, cuttings of the larger sorts 

 of willows upon my own moss grounds that I had drained upwards of 

 twenty years ago, and where other trees were thriving. This want of suc- 

 cess cannot be attributed to any defect in the climate, as these cuttings 

 were taken from good willow trees, growing within a few hundred yards 

 of the moss. 



If you had taken the trouble to have looked into the appendix to my 

 work, in the correspondence by which I strengthen my statements in the 

 body of the history, you would have seen the following sentence on this 

 subject. " The Salix alba, the white willow, Salix fragilis, the crack 



